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L 4V W S 


OP THE 


TERRITORY OF IDAHO, 


RELATING TO QUARTZ. 


CONTAINING THE QUARTZ LAWS, TOGETHER WITH ALL 
THE AMENDMENTS, PASSED AT THE LAST SESSION OF 
THE LEGISLATURE, HELD AT BOISE CITY, IDAHO 
TERRITORY, DURING THE MONTHS OF DECEM¬ 
BER AND JANUARY, 18G5-66. CAREFULLY COM¬ 
PILED FROM THE STATUTES JUST PUBLISHED, 

BY F. KENYON, TERRITORIAL PRINTER. 


SAN FRANCISCO .* 

H. H. B ancroft & Company, 
i 866. 



















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L A. W S 


OK TilK 


TERRITORY OF IDAHO, 


RELATING TO QUARTZ. 


CONTAINING THE QUARTZ LAWS, TOGETHER WITH ALL 
THE AMENDMENTS, PASSED AT THE LAST SESSION OF 
THE LEGISLATURE, HELD AT BOISE CITY, IDAHO 
z' TERRITORY, DURING THE MONTHS OF DECEM- 




BER AND JANUARY, 18C5-66. CAREFULLY COM¬ 
PILED FROM THE STATUTES JUST PUBLISHED, 
BY F. KENYON, TERRITORIAL PRINTER. 

I 


SAN FRANCISCO .* 

H. H. Bancroft & Company. 

1866. 

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54665 




L .A W S 


OF THE 

TERRITORY OF IDAHO, 

RELATING TO QUARTZ. 


A N A C T 

Relating to the Discovery of Gold and Silver Quartz 
Lodes, and of the manner of their location. 

Section 1. That any person or persons who 
may hereafter discover any quartz lead or lode, 
shall be entitled to one claim thereon, by right of 
discovery, and one claim each by right of loca¬ 
tion : Provided, That no person shall be entitled 
to hold more than one claim by right of location 
on any one lead or lode, and that no person be 
entitled, or have the right to locate, or to hold by 
location, or to have recorded, any claim or claims, 
on any lead or lode, unless he be a resident or 
inhabitant of this Territory. 

Sec. 2. That a quartz claim shall consist of 
two hundred feet in length, along the lead or 
lode, by one hundred feet in width, being fifty 



4 


QUARTZ LAWS. 


feet on each side of said lead or lode, covering 
and including all dips, spurs and angles within 
the bounds of said claim; and also, the right of 
drainage, tunneling, and such other privileges as 
may be necessary to the working of said claim: 
Provided , That nothing in this Act shall be so 
construed as to give any claimant, or claimants, 
any right to any separate or distinct lodes, other 
than the one claimed, running the width of said 
claim, or to obstruct any subsequent claimants in 
working and improving such distinct ledge; and 
the centre of the ground between such ledges shall 
be the dividing line between such claimants. 

Sec. 3. The locator, or locators, of any quartz 
claim or claims, on any lead or lode, shall, at the 
time of locating said claim or claims, place a sub¬ 
stantial stake, not less than three inches in diame¬ 
ter, at each end of the claim so located: Provided, 
That where two or more claims are located to¬ 
gether, and recorded in one notice, then the afore¬ 
said stakes shall be placed at each end of the 
claims so located in one notice. On said stake 
at each end of said claim or claims, shall be 
placed a notice in writing, and said notice shall 
contain the date of the location of said claim or 
claims, the name or names of the locator or loca¬ 
tors, the name of the lead or lode on which said 
claim or claims are located, the number of feet so 
claimed by each of said locators, the distance to 


IDAHO TERRITORY. 


0 


the nearest end of said claim or claims from the 
discovery stake; the direction, as nearly as pos¬ 
sible, from the discovery stake, and the direction 
said claim or claims extend in, as nearly as may 
be, from the point designated as its, or their, 
commencement; and where more than one person 
join in one notice in locating said claims, shall 
state the actual number of feet claimed, and the 
portion of the ground so claimed by each person 
so locating. 

Sec. 4. Two or more persons may locate or 
take claims together in a body, by joining in a 
notice specifying the number of claims so located, 
and the name of each person so joining in such 
location, being written under the notice; but the 
claims so located shall not exceed two hundred 
feet for each person so locating; and said claims 
shall, on said notice, be numbered and designated 
as segregated claims, and shall designate the 
position of the said segregated ground in said 
claims, so located, in one notice, including, when 
necessary, a discovery claim, except where it may 
be necessary to include a claim by right of dis¬ 
covery, and the notice shall then state in whose 
name or names said discovery claim is located. 
Persons so joining in one notice shall be con¬ 
sidered as tenants in common, so soon as the 
work hereinafter required to be done shall be 
fully finished and performed. The work herein- 


QUARTZ LAWS. 


fi 

after required to be performed on a quartz claim, 
to entitle the locator or his assigns to hold the 
same as real estate, may be performed on any one 
of the claims so held under one notice: Provided , 
It be equal in value to one hundred dollars for 
each and every two hundred feet held under one 
notice, including the discovery claim; but when 
any claims have been located by two or more per¬ 
sons, in one notice, so soon as the work as re¬ 
quired by this Act, has been performed on said 
claim or claims, to wit: One hundred dollars 
worth of work for each and every two hundred 
feet included in the notice locating said claims, 
the said claimants shall be deemed tenants in 
common, and shall be subject to all the rights, 
privileges and benefits, responsibilities and lia¬ 
bilities, of tenants in common. 

Sec. 5. All claims shall be recorded in the 
Recorder’s office of the county in which such lead 
or lode shall be discovered, by filing with the Re¬ 
corder a copy of the notice placed on the ledge or 
lode, or a similar notice, containing the name of 
the ledge or lode, the name or names of the loca¬ 
tors, the number of feet claimed, the date of loca¬ 
tion, the direction in which the ledge or lode runs, 
the district and county in which the ledge or lode 
may be, and the general distance and direction 
from some known or initial points, and any other 
fact or statement by which the ledge may be 


IDAHO TERRITORY. 


7 


identified, known or found. Said notice shall be 
tiled within ten days after the location of any 
claim, or claims, on any ledge or lode; and the 
person or persons named in the notice, shall, each 
one for himself, and not one for the other, within 
three days after the filing the notice, appear in 
person at the Recorder’s office, and authorize the 
recording of the same, in his name or names; and 
no record shall be legal or valid without the per¬ 
sonal appearance of the person or persons named 
in the notice. At the Recorder’s office, the Re¬ 
corder shall record the same, in a book kept for 
that purpose, and called the “ Book of Quartz 
Claims,” to which there shall be complete and full 
duplicate index kept by the Recorder; and that 
the Recorder be entitled to receive a fee of twenty- 
five cents for filing each notice, one dollar for 
each quartz claim recorded, and twenty-five cents 
for indexing each name in notice recorded, with 
the name or names thereon: Provided , That if 
said lead or lode be more than thirty miles from 
the county seat of said county, then the time for 
recording the same may extend to fifteen days. 

- And all persons recording any claim, or claims, 
shall take an oath before the Recorder of said 
county, that said claim, or claims, have not been 
heretofore located according to law, or, if so loca- 


8 


QUARTZ LAWS. 


ted, that the said claim, or claims, have been 
abandoned, or forfeited by non-fulfillment of the 
provisions of this Act. 

Sec. 6 . Quartz claims located and recorded in 
accordance with the provisions of this Act, shall 
entitle the person or persons so locating* and re* 
cording, to hold the same as real estate, to the use 
of himself, his heirs and assigns: Provided , That 
within one year from and after the date of record¬ 
ing, he or they shall cause to be performed one 
hundred dollars worth of work for each and every 
claim of two hundred feet of said lead or lode, said 
work to consist of the following: the stripping the 
lead or lode, sinking of shafts, excavating of tun¬ 
nels, obtaining machinery, and preparing material 
for working said lead or lode in good faith. 

Sec. 7. Conveyances of quartz claims shall re¬ 
quire the same formalities, and shall be subject to 
the same rules of construction, as the transfer and 
conveyance of real estate. 

Sec. 8. Any person or persons who shall will¬ 
fully and maliciously tear down or destroy any 
notice posted on quartz claims, or tear up or de¬ 
stroy any stakes marking quartz claims, shall, 
upon conviction thereof, be deemed guilty of a 
misdemeanor, and shall be fined in any sum not 
less than twenty-five dollars, or not exceeding one 
hundred dollars, or by not less than thirty days, 


IDAHO TERRITORY. 


9 

nor more than six months, imprisonment in the 
County Jail, or by both such fine and imprison¬ 
ment; and all Justices of the Peace, in their re¬ 
spective counties, shall have jurisdiction of such 
offenses. 

Sec. 9. That an Act, entitled “An Act relating* 
to the discovery of gold and silver bearing quart/, 
ledges, and of the manner of their location/’ ap¬ 
proved December thirteenth, A. 1). eighteen hun¬ 
dred and sixty-four, and all other Acts, or sections 
of Acts, in conflict with this Act, be and the same 
are hereby repealed. 

Sec. 10. Any person or persons desiring to 
preserve and perpetuate testimony, as to the 
sufficiency of the amount of work done on any 
claim or claims, to entitle him or them to hold 
them as real estate, according to the provisions 
of section six of this Act, may take two disinter 
ested persons to view such work, who shall care¬ 
fully examine the same; immediately after which, 
they shall go before the County Recorder, or other 
officer by law authorized to administer oaths in 
the county, and take and subscribe an affidavit 
containing, first, a description of the location of 
the claim or claims on which t!ie work is per¬ 
formed, the character and value of such work, 
and the date when they reviewed the same, which 
affidavit shall be filed by the County Recorder, and 


10 


QUARTZ LAWS. 


carefully preserved. Such affidavits, or certified 
copies of the same, under the certificate and seal 
of the County Recorder, who has the custody of 
the original affidavit or affidavits, shall, in any 
Court in this Territory, be prima facie evidence 
of the character and amount of labor performed 
on the claim or claims which are described in such 
affidavit or affidavits. The Recorder shall receive 
a fee of fifty cents for filing and preserving the 
affidavits required by this section. 

Sec. 11. Any person or persons who may de¬ 
sire to run any tunnel into any hill or mountain, 
for the purpose of discovering or working mineral 
bearing quartz leads, or lodes, shall be entitled to 
hold five hundred feet each way from the line of 
the tunnel, on every lead or lode so discovered: 
Provided, The said lode has not been previously 
claimed and held according to law; and said per¬ 
son or persons shall also be entitled to hold three 
hundred feet square at the entrance or entrances 
of said tunnel or tunnels, for building, deepening, 
or other necessary purposes. Provided farther , 
That nothing in this Act shall be so construed as 
to invalidate the vested rights of other persons. 

Sec. 12. The manner of locating tunnels shall 
be by posting a notice or notices at the entrance 
or entrances of the tunnel, describing the lin^ of 

? 


IDAHO TERRITORY. 


11 


the tunnel and of the dumping ground, which 
notice shall be signed by all the parties interested, 
stating the interest of each person. 

Sec. 13. A copy of said notice shall be re¬ 
corded in the office of the County Recorder, within 
ten days from the time of location, and the Re¬ 
corder shall receive two dollars for recording said 
notice. 

Sec. 14. The parties claiming any tunnel shall, 
within one year from the time of location, perform, 
or cause to be performed, five hundred dollars 
worth of labor on said tunnel; and when a quartz 
lead or lode, belonging to such tunnel company, 
shall be struck, it shall become real estate, and 
any person or persons interested in any tunnel 
who shall fail to perform his or their proportion of 
the labor required by this Act, within the time 
specified, shall forfeit all his or their rights in said 
tunnel; and those who do perform their proportion 
of said labor in the required time, shall acquire 
all the rights of such delinquent parties, and shall 
proceed immediately to perform the requisite 
amount of labor, and any tunnel site becoming 
vacant by non-fulfillment of the law, shall not be 
subject to re-location by the same parties. 

Approved, January 12th, A. 1). 1866. 

C? [Statutes of Idaho , third session, p. 169. 


12 


QUARTZ LAWS. 


AN ACT 

Relative to Quartz Claims in the First Judicial 
District of this Territory , embracing the counties 
of Idaho, Nez Perce, Shoshone, Lahtoh, and 
Kootenai. 

Section 1. That “ An Act relating to the dis¬ 
covery of gold and silver quartz leads, and the 
manner of their location,” approved December 13, 
A. D. 18f>4, and any Act passed by the third 
session of the Legislative Assembly in regard to 
quartz claims, shall not apply to any quartz leads, 
or lodes, located and recorded in the First Judicial 
District, after the passage, and approval of this 
Act by the Governor. 

Sec. 2. The locators of quartz claims in the 
counties of Idaho, Nez Perce, Shoshone, Lahtoh, 
and Kootenai, shall record the same with the Re¬ 
corders of their respective counties, within ten 
days after location, unless located more than thirty 
miles from the place of recording, in which case 
twenty days shall be allowed; and the Recorders 
of the various counties mentioned in this bill, 
shall be allowed one dollar for recording each 
quartz claim, and making the necessary filings 
and indexing; but in no case shall said fees ex¬ 
ceed the sum of five dollars upon any set of claims. 

Sec. 3. Transfers of quartz claims shall be 
duly acknowledged by a proper officer, and re¬ 
corded by the County Recorder. 


IDAHO TERRITORY. 


13 

Sec. 4. The locators or holders of quartz claims 
in the counties mentioned in this Act, may make 
all needful rules and regulations for the taking up 
and holding of quartz claims, when not in contra¬ 
vention of this Act. 

Approved, January 12th, A. D. 1866. 

[Statutes of Idaho , third session, p. 140. 

AN ACT 

For perfecting Titles to Quartz Claims in the county 
of Idaho. 

Section 1 . That all transfers of quartz claims 
in the county of Idaho, made by bill of sale with¬ 
out acknowledgment by a proper officer, prior to 
the passage of this Act, shall be full and valid in 
law in all cases when the person purchasing has 
taken possession of the same, either in person or 
constructively. 

Approved, January 10th, A. 1). 1866. 

[Statutes of Idaho , third session, p. 201. 

AN ACT 

Legalizing the Records of Alturas and Boise 
Counties. 

Section 1. That all quartz recording deeds, 
powers of attorney, water rights, or other notices 
of every character, heretofore recorded in the 
Record Books of Alturas and Boise counties, be, 


14 


QUARTZ LAWS. 


and tlie same are hereby, legalized, as if said re¬ 
cording had been done in the proper counties; and 
the legal effect of said recording, to be construed 
so as to have the same force from the date of re¬ 
cording as all other legal records. 

Sec. 2. It shall be lawful, until such time as 
the county boundary shall be established between 
Boise County and Alturas County, for any person 
residing in Banner City and Walker’s Diggings 
Mining Districts, to have any claim, or any instru¬ 
ment of writing, of whatever character, required 
to be recorded, to have the same recorded in Boise 
County. 

Approved, December 30th, A. D. 1865. 

[Statutes of Idaho , third session, p. 215. 

























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